THE "Transformers" concept is simple: In the blink of an eye, some innocuous thing -- a car, for instance -- morphs into an alien-whupping killing machine. Director Michael Bay has undergone his own transformation, and while it's hardly as dramatic as what happens in his new movie, his turnabout does suggest that he is about to have a much sunnier summer than his last time around. When Bay was previously putting the finishing touches on a summer movie, he wasn't having that grand a time.

Be careful what you wish for, it might ruin the movie you're in. Lincoln Six-Echo and Jordan Two-Delta are cloistered clones desperate to breathe the sweet air of freedom. But once they make good on their escape, "The Island" collapses like a punctured balloon. Of course, given that "The Island" is directed by world-class noisemaker Michael Bay, make that a very loud punctured balloon.

Michael BAY loves to play softball and went 4-for-4 on a recent weeknight. As the game progressed, though, Bay felt a sharp tightness across his chest. Was the 40-year-old director having a heart attack? Had he pulled a muscle? Or was he simply panicking over "The Island"? Having made some of Hollywood's biggest summer blockbusters, including "Armageddon" and "The Rock," Bay is accustomed to last-minute jitters. Yet with "The Island," he had cause for a real anxiety attack.

Michael Bay, the director of the films "Pearl Harbor" and "Armageddon," sued a former Merrill Lynch & Co. stockbroker for allegedly losing $3 million of the filmmaker's money through unauthorized day trading. Bay's lawsuit claims the stockbroker, Win H. Troung, conducted more than 8,000 trades over 15 months--or about 25 a day--with the director's $2.8-million portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash. Troung, formerly of Merrill Lynch's Beverly Hills office, couldn't be reached for comment.

May 20, 2001 | ROBERT W. WELKOS, Robert W. Welkos is a Times staff writer

"What you have to understand about Pearl Harbor is that it was probably the most controversial military event in 20th century history. It's still controversial today. Anyone who takes on a Pearl Harbor movie is going to face that." --Former Air Force Capt. Jack Green, curator branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C., and advisor on the movie "Pearl Harbor."

You know you're not in the intended demographic group for "Armageddon," the loud new film about how a Bruce Willis-led team of roughnecks tries to save the world from a deadly asteroid, if: * you even notice it's loud; * you don't consider two hours and 30 minutes an ideal length for this kind of thing; * you find yourself missing the barely there sensitivity of "Deep Impact"; * you think of roughneck Steve Buscemi as a mainstay of American independent films, not one of the co-stars of "Con

"It's working fantastically. We've been having a lot of fun. We're doing everything together because I'm trying to learn Disney's business. The first 100 days have been one of the most FANTASTIC experiences of my life." --Michael Ovitz (Vanity Fair, March) * "Michael Ovitz is the Antichrist, and you can quote me on that." --NBC West Coast President Don Ohlmeyer on Michael Ovitz (Time, April 15 * "Apparently, Don Ohlmeyer thinks more highly of Mike Ovitz than I do."

Much about Michael Bay shouts, "Caution: Hot Young Director in Motion!"--the way he takes over a room, the way he races through a story, especially the way he makes movies. In high-stakes Hollywood, where a minute's delay on a shoot can mean thousands of dollars in overruns and fines, speed can make you a bigger hero than Keanu Reeves on a booby-trapped bus.